Having Trouble Finding A Bios Update For An HP 500-147c

[CLC]

Of course there is no update on the hp support website and trying to recover windows + B key will not work. It gets stuck on the hp screen and will only boot into windows if I take the cmos battery out and wait for an hour. I'ts probably a borked board but if I could at least attempt to update the bios it would be nice. Can't find a file though.

 

[Markverhyden]

What is the HP part number? Something like na123b-aba, usually on the same label as the serial number, etc.

 

[nlinecomputers]

I'm trying to follow the logic on this. Windows (8?) needs to be recovered and you are checking the BIOS????

Maybe the recovery partition is borked? And that is why it doesn't load?

 

[CLC]

Maybe I didn't explain myself correctly. Nothing is wrong with windows or the hard drive, it's the bios. It will not load the bios, I did have it booted up and working after I removed the cmos battery and let it sit for a couple hours but now I can't even do that. I thought maybe if I could update the bios when I got into windows again that would take care of the issue, but I can no longer get it to boot at all. I get a bios splash screen and that's all folks.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Doesn't sound like the drives working correctly to me. Pull it and see if you can boot into bios.

 

[CLC]

I did pull the power and sata cable from the drive along with the DVD drive and swapped out memory. That's why I was leaning towards bios issue.

 

[FremontPC]

With nothing but the power cord connected, do you get past the HP logo?

 

[CLC]

Tried that too, just the bios splash screen then freeze.

 

[FremontPC]

Are your voltages ok? Nothing lodged in the usb ports, contacts ok etc?

Maybe pull the battery again, pull the power, hold the power button down for 30 sec and try booting without the battery?

 

[gadgetfixup]

Sounds like something is hanging up the POST. Did you take a real close look at those memory slots? BIOS is copied to RAM typically on start-up so if it's stopping right from the start I'd look real close at those wires in the ram slots and double check those chips. Some are cut a little short and can slide left or right in the slot before you push them down. We've seen some cut so short you can slide them to where the wires are in the gaps between the tabs on the ram chip and not on the tabs. Of course not common but neither is your scenario.

The other thing I'd do is once you power it up and it's hung start touching around on the mainboard feeling for hot spots. If you find a spot on the mainboard that will blister your finger while it's on, you've found your problem. Get another board and keep a glass of water nearby for your tester finger

 

[jzukerman]

Did you test the voltages on the CMOS battery to determine if it is good?

 

[CLC]

I don't even have it anymore, setup a backup computer and it's under warranty so I'll let hp take care of it. I do appreciate the feed back though, I don't know what I'd do without this forum, thanks a bunch peoples